Reading Wednesday :｡･:*:･ﾟ'☆

[yuuago]

Finished reading: The Professor of Secrets: Mystery, Medicine, and Alchemy in Renaissance Italy by William Eamon. This was a quick and interesting read. The subject of this biography, Leonardo Fioravanti, sounds like quite a character; surgeon and alchemist, very fond of tooting his own horn, so to speak (and the text very much acknowledges that Fioravanti's own writing about himself is not exactly unbiased). The book is written in a very easygoing style, more public than academic, but it seems to be well-researched as far as I can tell.

Also finished reading: Digger (complete omnibus edition) by Ursula Vernon. It took me forever to read this. Wayyyy back when it was first being written, and Ursula was posting it on Graphic Smash, I tried to follow it, but fell behind because I'm terrible at keeping up with things, and after a while pages went behind a paywall. AND THEN, much more recently, the omnibus was kickstarted, and I cheered! And bought it! And... the book was huge! And heavy! So it sat on my shelf for a while. WELL I'm glad that I did get around to it now, because it really is wonderful. There's something about Ursula's protagonists that I love; they're often practical, down-to-earth, trying to do what's right. I love that kind of thing. Can easily see myself re-reading this, and I don't regret shelling out for it at all. ... Though, um, I might recommend a paperback version instead.

Currently reading: The War of the Worlds by H G Wells. This is an old favourite. My copy of the book is somewhat special to me - it came from my grandmother's home - ages ago, I would go down into her basement in the summer and pick out an old paperback from her shelves, and sometimes they'd come home with me. Well, I'd heard about this one, but I didn't really know what it was about, and the first time I read it, my eyes practically popped out of my head, because it wasn't what I expected, and it was so good. It's still good. I think that now, I appreciate it in somewhat different ways than I did when I was a kid; I pay more attention to the language now than I did back then, I think. Been a long time since I last re-read this - a few years at least - and it still strikes me just how creepy it is. Very eerie. Something to do with the setting, maybe, I think. Can't quite put my finger on why, exactly.

Reading next: As usual, I have no idea. I kind of want to re-read the Kalevala, but I'm still not feeling very well, so maybe I should stick with something lighter. In all honesty, my book piles are getting a little ridiculous, and I'm not entirely sure what I even have at the moment... Looks like I need to do some re-arranging.

Comments

[the_rck]

The paperback edition of Digger is pretty huge, too. I've been afraid to open it because I fear that the spine will crack pretty much instantly, just from the weight.

But I love Digger wholeheartedly. I think it deserved the Hugo it won.

[yuuago]

Ack, yeah, and with a paperback that would be a definite worry, wouldn't it....

Totally agree with you on the deserved Hugo win. <3 It's sooo goooood.

[dhampyresa]

I might be up for a Kalevala re-read.

[yuuago]

Is that so? Then maybe I would be too. :D Though it would take me a while to get through it. I read it too quickly last time, I think; didn't appreciate it properly.